Thippeswamy Prahlada, Sahoo Suman Kalyan, Nj Hemavathi, Giri Soumen, Ghosh Debasis
Centre for Nano and Material Sciences, JAIN (Deemed to be University), Kanakapura Road, Bangalore, Karnataka, 562112, India.
Department of Chemistry, School of Applied Sciences, Kalinga Institute of Industrial Technology (KIIT) Deemed to be University, Bhubaneswar, Odisha, 751024, India.
Chemistry. 2025 Sep 12:e02204. doi: 10.1002/chem.202502204.
Aqueous zinc-ion batteries (AZIBs) have garnered attention as a cost-effective and safer alternative to lithium-ion batteries (LIBs). However, developing suitable cathode materials which can reversibly host Zn2 + ions remains a challenge. Herein we explore the effect of zinc doping into hydrothermally synthesized VO.12HO (ZVO) and demonstrate that such doping enhances electronic conductivity and structural stability, leading to improved rate capability and cycling performance of ZVO as a cathode material for AZIBs. The effect of zinc doping in the VO.12HO as a ZIB cathode has not been previously explored. The ZVO materials had a bundled rod-like morphology with a zinc content of 1.3% and an average oxidation state of 4.86 for the vanadium. DFT calculations further validate that Zn doping to the pristine VO is thermodynamically favorable, which also improves the electronic conductivity of the ZVO. As a result, the Zn//ZVO cell exhibited superior specific capacity and improved rate performance over the pristine VO.12HO (VO) electrode, with a high specific capacity of 359 mAh/g at 0.1 A/g and sustained 121 mAh/g at 5 A/g. The Zn//ZVO cell also showed commendable cycle stability with 90 mAh/g capacity retention over 1110 cycles, which was equivalent to the starting capacity of the pristine VO cathode.
水系锌离子电池（AZIBs）作为锂离子电池（LIBs）一种经济高效且更安全的替代品，已受到广泛关注。然而，开发能够可逆容纳Zn2 +离子的合适阴极材料仍然是一项挑战。在此，我们探究了锌掺杂对水热合成的VO·12H₂O（ZVO）的影响，并证明这种掺杂提高了电子导电性和结构稳定性，从而提升了ZVO作为AZIBs阴极材料的倍率性能和循环性能。此前尚未探究过锌掺杂在VO·12H₂O作为水系锌离子电池阴极中的作用。ZVO材料具有束状棒状形态，锌含量为1.3%，钒的平均氧化态为4.86。密度泛函理论（DFT）计算进一步证实，向原始VO中掺杂锌在热力学上是有利的，这也提高了ZVO的电子导电性。结果，与原始VO·12H₂O（VO）电极相比，Zn//ZVO电池表现出优异的比容量和改善的倍率性能，在0.1 A/g时具有359 mAh/g的高比容量，在5 A/g时保持121 mAh/g。Zn//ZVO电池还表现出令人称赞的循环稳定性，在1110次循环中容量保持率为90 mAh/g，这与原始VO阴极的起始容量相当。
